The Expert Vagabond is our last Free Spirits Friday guest. Sadness.
But it’s a big one.
Matthew has ages of travelling experience, and, as his name suggests, he is an expert vagabond. If you’re interested in anything related to adventure travel, travel photography, nomadism, backpacking or off-beat travel destinations, Expert Vagabond is the place to be.
It goes without saying that Matthew has a lot of expertise to share. So I asked him some questions about adventure travel, living as a digital nomad and settling down.
This is the story of Expert Vagabond.
Back in 2009 I was living in Miami working as a freelance photographer, but felt lost and wanted to do something new. I wasn’t sure what though. I began reading some books about long-term travel recommended by some friends who were backpacking around the world, and decided that if they could do this, so could I! So I spent the next year saving money, downsizing my life, and building a small online business selling ebooks.
In the fall of 2010 I flew to Guatemala and began backpacking around Central America on the cheap, and writing about it on my new travel blog, Expert Vagabond. After a few months, I realized I wanted to continue for as long as possible and began looking for ways to earn income from the blog. I’ve been working as a professional travel blogger ever since.
Getting myself into challenging situations, and learning what I’m capable of (or not). Learning about the world through my own first-hand experiences and not reading about other people’s. Always meeting new people and seeing fascinating places.
There are many. Some that come to mind:
After years of living out of a backpack, it was just time to settle down. Constant travel takes a toll, and I was burned out. I missed having a regular group of friends, chilling on my own couch with a good movie, owning stuff, and having a long-term romantic relationship. All of those things are tough if you’re constantly travelling.
Both are equally wonderful to hear! Other people helped me with these things, I’m always happy to know that I could do the same for someone else.
Anna and I travel together often, but we also dedicate time to travelling solo too. I don’t want to do everything she does, and she doesn’t want to do everything I do. I think it’s important to mix it up a bit and have some personal time to explore our own passions without the other always tagging along. She agrees!
Related: Making friends as a solo traveller
Sure. I’m spending more time in big cities than I used to, and she’s spending more time hiking mountains with me. But I think it’s good for both of us, and it’s definitely nice to share amazing travel experiences with someone you love. And we both help each other out when it comes to business tasks — like taking photos for each other or bouncing ideas off one another. She books travel stuff (which I hate doing), I lug photography gear around (which she hates doing).
You really can’t until after the fact. I try not to scare my family too much and explain to them in detail why what I’m planning is actually safer than it might seem. Knowledge is power!
But some of my trips are still a little risky, like hiking solo anywhere remote for long-distances, or hopping freight trains, or wandering around Mexican cartel territory (still working on that article BTW). Sometimes they find out after the fact that it was kind of dangerous — but by then I’m back safe!
Sure! For photographing people. You need to interact with people and chat them up a bit before sticking a camera in their face. And ALWAYS ask permission for their photo if it’s a close-up portrait. Also, talking your way out of trouble. Haha. Miami nightlife is full of sketchy characters, and knowing how to interact with people like that certainly helped while travelling to sketchy destinations.
Well, I’d already spent some time in Mexico, so my plan was to begin in Guatemala and try to work my way down to Panama from country to country via bus. Central America was cheap to visit, and so was the flight down there. I didn’t have much money to spend, so it felt like a good way to see many places on a budget.
I thought travel was only for rich people with company vacation time. All the travel marketing I’d ever seen was for fancy resorts and guided tours. It wasn’t until I started reading about budget backpacking that a whole new world and opportunity opened up for me. I didn’t know there were people out there travelling long term for less than $1000 per month! I didn’t know there were places called “hostels” where a bunch of people shared a room together. It was an epiphany!
There are still so many, but Bolivia is high on my list right now. So is the Eastern European country of Georgia. I’d love to do some trekking in both soon!
I’d like to thank the man behind Expert Vagabond again for helping me out with this interview. Matthew, you’re great and I’m very grateful that you took the time to answer these questions.
You can check out the other Free Spirits Friday interviews here. If you’re wondering how an English woman moonlights as a dj in Spain or how an American couple lives in Korea, this is the place to be.
Thanks for reading!
-S
A Canadian travel enthusiast with a passion for history, culture and all things macabre, Wandering Crystal wanted to experience somewhere new by becoming a local. To transform that dream into a reality, she moved from Canada to Scotland. The adventure she had moving abroad was the most rewarding of her life and she hopes to inspire others to have their own meaningful experiences through living abroad, too.
This is the second to last interview in my Free Spirits Friday series. (Sadness!) You can check out the others by clicking the link above!
If you’re only interested in one particular interview, here they are:
Without any further ado, let’s see what Wandering Crystal has to say about her time abroad and her life as a nomad.
Hello, friends! I’m Crystal and I fell in love with traveling when I took my first trip out of Canada at the age of 16. Having stayed with a friend in his home country of England, I became completely captivated by the similarities and differences between both cultures.
In addition to being bitten by the travel bug and making immediate plans to backpack across Europe once I graduated, I began to wonder what my life would be like if I lived elsewhere. I loved the idea of experiencing the world in an entirely different way.
Related: Studying abroad in Salamanca, Spain
I thrive on learning about people’s lives. Besides: getting to know others from around the world opens doors to their countries, languages, histories and what it is about their home they’re most proud of. It really helps me understand the world and makes me feel closer to humanity as a whole.
Canada is very multicultural, so you don’t have to travel far to meet people from all over the world. This means I get a lot of opportunities to learn about other people and the countries they’re from.
Since I always wanted to experience life in another country, working, mixing with the locals and feeling like a member of the community, I decided to make it a reality. This led to me moving to Scotland for 2 years and it was the best decision I ever made.
When I was first picking a place to live, I had a limited choice of countries. I had to go somewhere that would accept a temporary worker from Canada and a place where the residents spoke English. This restricted me to Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland.
As I have a love affair with Europe, I decided the UK was the place to be! And since I like a challenge, I wanted to live in and explore a country I’d never been to. Having already visited England, I decided Scotland was the way to go. Plus, I’d seen pictures of the lush green fields, quaint stone buildings and a city with a castle that sits upon a hill, which automatically earns a few points in my book! I was also smitten with the Scottish accent — it’s one of my favourites.
I wish I could pinpoint a specific moment in my life that made me fall in love with the macabre. I’m passionate about understanding the history of a place and European history is something I find particularly fascinating.
I like to understand the thought processes and reasons events happened long ago, visiting ghost towns and abandoned buildings, imagining what life was like in their heydays. I also love seeing Victorian gravestones and envisaging what the person was like and how they lived.
The macabre side of the world appeals to me because I can learn how humans reacted when they were at their most vulnerable, such as during the Plague and world wars. It reveals a unique side of history.
Related: Why I visited an abandoned children’s hospital in Berlin
Europe is a haven of dark tourism because there’s so much incredible history. I was completely hooked when we started learning about European history in highschool — I found life in the 1400s-1900s completely captivating. The way the world was changed through wars, diseases and the advancement of technology helped me discover a world that I hadn’t been part of. But studying history created a new world that I was now part of.
Due to Edinburgh’s history of darkness (being affected by the Black Plague, having public executions and witch trials, and being home to infamous body snatchers Burke and Hare) it was the perfect place to explore as a dark tourist.
I became obsessed with historic places in the city, like the South Bridge Vaults and Mary Kings Close. Seeing how people were treated during the outbreak of the Plague was completely fascinating.
In my part of Canada there are a few dark tourist sites, such as ghost towns and a creepy museum called the Museum of Fear and Wonder. But it’s considerably more challenging to find and explore dark tourism sites in Canada than it is in the UK. I believe this is because Canada is a younger country. Its large size also makes it a lot more difficult — it really takes a lot of planning because sites are so few and far between.
I didn’t notice a difference at all. People treated me exactly the same in both countries. I never felt unsafe in Scotland (nor do I in Canada) and I never felt like my gender got in the way of working or travelling opportunities in either country.
I don’t know if this is necessarily something that everyone gets by living abroad, but it really gave me a new lease of life. Living abroad was incredibly challenging, especially as I’d never previously lived in or even visited Scotland before. The experience taught me so much about myself and made me incredibly happy. I learned to say yes to people and experiences I would have previously avoided and I learned how to push myself in a positive way. I gained confidence which transformed into happiness.
If I had stayed in Canada, I would have never experienced the same kind of happiness. Canada was my comfort zone, but I wasn’t happy with how my life was. I wanted more and Scotland gave me that.
I didn’t travel as much as I wanted to. Yes, I visited a few countries, but spent most of my time exploring Edinburgh and a few other parts of Scotland. I really wanted to get a taste of Scottish living and I was completely in love with Edinburgh. I spent the entire first year of my 2-year stay in Scotland there. It was exactly the kind of life I wanted to experience at the time.
I ventured out to other countries in my second year of living there and I visited some amazing places! I do wish I had more time to explore a bit more. But because I want to be a long-term and full-time traveller, I hope to be able to experience this kind of travel eventually.
Start your morning in Princes Street Gardens, formally the Nor’ Loch which was once a large body of foul, stench-ridden water that the residents of Edinburgh used as a waste dumping ground. It was in these stagnant disease-riddled waters that suspected witches were drowned. After that, head towards Lothian Street, where an incredibly beautiful graveyard sits in St Cuthbert’s Churchyard. The gravestones here are weathered and covered in moss.
Then spend an afternoon on a tour of Mary King’s Close beneath the City Chambers, deep below the Royal Mile. This close was greatly affected by the Plague in 1645 and it’s where you can learn about this period of history and how they figured out what caused the disease.
The best way to spend the evening is to take a ghost tour in the South Bridge Vaults. These vaults are also tucked under the streets of Edinburgh and were once a breeding ground for thieves and murderers, including the infamous body snatchers Burke and Hare.
Top your night off by lurking in the darkness at Greyfriars Kirkyard. There’s a particularly well-known poltergeist called the Mackenzie Poltergeist who’s known for giving passersby a push or even leaving a scratch or two!
My working holiday visa was only good for 24 months, so I had no choice. I originally only planned on living in Scotland for about 7 months, but loved it so much that I stayed for 22! If it was easier to live in countries other than Canada I would definitely spend my life living and moving from country to country. I love the experience living abroad gave me – I would happily do it over and over again.
When I came back, my life wasn’t really any different than it was prior to moving abroad. I felt a lot happier than before I moved to Scotland. It seemed to refresh me and I wanted to tell everyone how great it is to experience living abroad. It also gave me even more devotion to explore. I realised that travelling was truly my passion and I needed to get back out there.
As much as I love Canada (it’s an amazing country!) and being a Canadian, I knew that if I settled here I would become unhappy again. I would slink back into the depression I felt before I moved to Scotland and I was determined not to let this happen.
Canada may be home but the world is exciting. That exciting place is where I want and need to be to live a truly fulfilling life.
I loved being able to walk around everywhere, I loved the rain and the cooler temperatures. It was always hoodie weather! Plus, it’s so much easier to explore other countries using Scotland as a base. I was finally able to say what all North Americans dream of: “Oh, I’m just going over to Italy for the weekend.”
Plus, Scotland has way more free and cheap services than Canada does. They have free banking (we pay extortionate bank fees in Canada), cheap unlimited mobile phone plans, really cheap contacts and eyewear and you pay a max of 3 pounds for any medical prescription.
I missed a lot of things — friends, family, my pets and most importantly a place to buy a good pair of pants! Furthermore, I learned that I really enjoy nostalgia while living abroad. I found myself bonding strongly with one of my coworkers who was born and raised in Philadelphia. She was living in Scotland with her husband and we would chat non-stop about awesome things from our childhoods in North America.
Now that I’m back in Canada, I’m more nostalgic than ever! I love watching old movies, shows and chatting with friends about our childhoods. Also, where I live in Canada we have 4 seasons. Scotland really only has rain in the summer and colder rain in the winter. Canada is home, but Scotland is my home away from home and I wouldn’t change a thing.
I want to thank Crystal from the bottom of my heart for giving us some insights into what life is like for a Canadian woman in Scotland.
You can follow Crystal’s stories on her blog, Wandering Crystal and her Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.
Thanks for reading!
-S
Our next guest for Free Spirits Friday is not actually one person. They’re originally from Seattle, they’re married and they live in South Korea as English teachers. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Eric and Grace, the Wandering Ravens.
I got to know Eric because I stumbled upon one of their articles when their blog was still known as Seattleites Abroad. I left a comment because I loved the way the article was written, and a friendship gradually grew from there on out. Since then, we’ve been sending messages and emails back and forth, and I’d actually call Eric a friend now.
Either way, I asked them if I could ask the Wandering Ravens a few questions for this series, and they gladly agreed. Here’s what they told me.
Hi! We’re Eric & Grace, a married couple from Seattle, USA. We moved to Korea two years ago and work here as English teachers.
Eric – When I was young, my family hosted a lot of foreign exchange students in our home. Of these, the ones I seemed to connect with the best were the Koreans. For this reason, I grew up always wanting to visit Korea for myself one day.
Eric – It was a gradual decision. I always told my host-brothers & sisters that I would go visit them in Korea one day, but it wasn’t until I started University that I made an official decision to move here. Then Grace and I got married, and Korea seemed like a good launching pad since both of us really wanted to travel together.
Grace – Yes, to be honest, I hadn’t really ever thought about Korea before meeting Eric. But he talked me into jumping into the unknown with him, and so that’s what we did! We moved here without knowing the language or food, and it’s been a pretty wild ride 🙂
Grace – I would recommend it to everyone! Moving abroad is something each person should experience at least once, and you gotta do it for at least a few months. So much of your personality and who you are gets unlocked when you travel. It grows you, stretches your mind, and opens you to new beliefs and possibilities. So much of who I am is a result of the years I’ve spent traveling — the years here in Korea, and my time in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
Eric – I definitely agree with her. There is no faster way to “grow up” than to drop yourself into a new country where you don’t know the language or culture and have to learn to survive in it. It involves constantly stepping outside of your comfort zone, making friends with people you never thought you’d connect with, and bonding with sights, smells, and sounds that you have never even imagined. Should you move abroad? I say it’s a resounding yes!
Eric – Good coffee! And I do miss the mountains.
Grace – I don’t mean to sound cheesy, but what I miss most is my family. Especially when we miss a holiday due to travel. The road can be lonely sometimes.
Eric – I can’t speak for other nationalities, but for American tourists it is extremely easy to get into Korea. All you have to do is fly here and you’ll get a visa at the Korean airport.
Grace – Of course, if you’re coming to work here, then you’ll need to get a special visa from the embassy in your country.
Eric – We’ve been away from home for a long time, so we’re planning on moving back to Seattle this winter so that we can spend some time with family and friends.
Grace – Yes, we’ve missed a lot of weddings, births, and unfortunately some deaths, so we have a lot of catching up to do with your friends and family back home. We do have some crazy awesome travel plans for 2019 though, so you can expect us to be back on the road once Spring comes.
Eric – We’ve been stationary in Korea for the last two years, so even though we’ve technically been traveling, it does sometimes feel like we’re living a “settled” life. We’ve considered this time in Korea a launching pad though, so have been working on a lot of projects for the future. Our blog, Wandering Ravens, and our YouTube channel has been one project, creating our savings has been another, but the project we’re most excited about is the SEO content writing business we’ve been building for the last year.
Grace – We’re really excited about our writing business because it means that we’re able to work from wherever we have an internet connection! No more year-long school contracts! We can truly experience the open road!
Eric – Yes! I just have to hop back in here and say how excited I am to finally graduate from English teacher to Digital Nomad. So while we haven’t traveled a lot outside of Korea in the last two years, we’re going to start moving really soon. If you’re curious to see what we write, here’s the link to our site: Writing Ravens.
Eric – Learn as much as you can about the culture before coming here. Learn how people act, what is considered polite and impolite, and get used to eating kimchi! If you’re curious what Korean customs you should know before visiting Korea, check out this blog post I wrote about it on Wandering Ravens.
Grace – I agree. Make sure you read up on Korean culture and social norms before coming here. I wish I had been more prepared for how much Korea’s standard of politeness differs from what we consider polite back in the USA. Read my answer to question #11 for more on that topic.
Grace – Technically, yes, we’ve been to North Korea! We visited the DMZ last year and were able to explore the Joint Security Area while we were there (that’s the border crossing with all those blue UN buildings). The blue buildings are built directly on the border, with half being in North Korea and half being in South Korea. We got to go inside one of the blue buildings, and so we can say that we have walked into North Korea! 😀
Eric – Would we ever want to do a proper tour of North Korea? On the one hand, I would like to, because I’d love to visit every country in the world. But, I don’t think we’ll be visiting the North anytime soon because we believe in traveling in a way that is healthy for our planet and its people. Supporting the government of North Korea through tourism isn’t healthy for the people living under the dictatorship there.
Eric – Oh gosh, so many differences. The biggest one for me is food. Korean spices and flavors are completely different from anything we use in the States, so moving here was a big shock for my stomach. I’d never eaten Korean food before moving here, so it took me a couple months before I was used to the food. I love it now, of course, and will probably be craving Korean food for the rest of my life!
Grace – The biggest difference for me is the different standards in politeness. Korean people will shove you out of the way and steal a subway seat from you even if you were about to sit down in it. They don’t acknowledge you when you make eye-contact on the street and no one smiles in public. Old ladies here are notorious for cutting in line — if I had a dollar for everytime someone has cut us in line, either at the mart or while waiting for the bus, I could stop working and retire right now. The different standard of politeness took me a while to get used to.
Eric – In terms of similarities….there aren’t that many, culturally. Except for appearance. Korea looks like a modern 21st century society, with skyscrapers, advanced public transit, etc. But besides that, I can’t really think of any similarities. The USA and Korea are very, very different in terms of culture and values. You have to come experience it for yourself!
Grace – The Korean alphabet is one of the sexiest alphabets ever created. It is SO easy to learn, that you could do it in a week if you really pressed yourself. If you move to Korea, you should at least learn how to read, because you have no excuse not to. As a tourist though, you don’t need to worry about learning the language, because Korea has A LOT of English. There are English signs and menus everywhere (especially in Seoul) and if you need help you are almost guaranteed to find someone who speaks English around you.
Again, I’d like to thank Grace and Eric for letting me ask them all kinds of questions about their lives in Korea. I gained a lot of valuable insights and it was very interesting to read about their experience.
If you want to follow the Wandering Ravens, you can do so on their blog, on Facebook and on YouTube.
In this week’s Free Spirits Friday interview, I’m asking Martin and Misha from Breaking Barriers some questions about their very unique situation. He’s Irish, she’s Lebanese, and they live together in Saudi Arabia. I’ll let Martin explain the rest of their fascinating story.
Let’s just get right into it.
Note: this interview series also includes interviews with Nomadic Matt, Wandering Earl and Never Ending Footsteps, among others. Check out the other interviews here!
My name is Martin. I was born and raised in Ireland and I came to live and work in Saudi Arabia in 2011. My wife’s name is Misha. She is a Lebanese citizen but she grew up in Saudi Arabia. Our story is unusual, in the fact that there are so many differences on the surface between us, yet at the same time we have so many similarities. It was these similarities that brought us together and to where we are today.
We both enjoy traveling a lot. This led us to start our own website, Breaking Barriers, where we document our trips and give information for others thinking of going to those countries. We focus mainly on countries in the Middle East, and other countries which are not on people’s top lists of countries to go to.
When not traveling we are researching how to enhance ourselves so we can get the best out of life, whether learning to scuba dive and skydive, or researching our travel plans for upcoming trips.
For more information about us see this page on our website.
It was initially our joint interest in travel that made us want to travel together and spend more time together. As I had never been to Lebanon and was planning a trip there, it coincided with the time that Misha would be there as part of her yearly trip home. I decided that touring the country with a local would allow me to get the best experience possible out of the country.
Naturally, this worked both ways. After that trip we soon started planning her first trip to Ireland. This time it was me taking on the responsibilities of the tour guide and trying to give her as good an experience as I got in Lebanon.
For Westerners the hardest part about living and working in Saudi Arabia is getting used to the cultural differences. Once you adjust to these differences and accept them, life becomes much easier.
People from an Arabic background find living here easier due to speaking the language. They also have more experience with the culture. However, it is still not their country. In other words: there are things that they have to come to terms with as well.
In the last year, the country has made it a lot easier for women to adjust to life here. The government lifted the driving ban, which allowed them to be more independent. Moreover, they no longer have to rely on taxis to get to the shops or to work.
There is a large expat population, from Philippines’, and sub-continental Asia, to Africa and Europe. This mix of nationalities, race, and cultures, makes the working environment one that takes a little bit of time to get used to.
Living and working in Saudi Arabia as a foreigner isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible.
For us there are a lot of benefits to living in Saudi Arabia. And that’s not just because of the amount of vacation days we get each year. Sure, they allow us to travel often, but there’s another thing that’s very important to us. The location of the region. Saudi Arabia is located close to three other continents. This means that Africa, Asia and Europe are only a short plane ride away.
It’s just great to be able to experience another culture like this. Especially for me. I grew up in Europe and life here is very different to what I grew up with. Living here, you learn about different cultures and how to interact with people from other backgrounds. That makes you a more patient and more positive person.
Then, of course, there is the fact that we have access to travel within the country itself. As it’s currently not accessible for tourism, we can see attractions and places that not many other people get the chance to.
It’s not so tough. For any country we go to, we check visa requirements first. However, the only drawback is that our passports are of two different rankings. This means that while one of us may need a visa, the other one may not. It all depends on which country we travel to so we need to make sure to have it all figured out beforehand.
For example: in the Middle East, the Lebanese passport has free travel to more countries than the Irish passport. While Misha can get in visa free, I might need to apply for a visa. And sometimes that means I have to wait at a long queue in the airport. It works the other way around in Europe. My Irish passport allows me to travel freely, but Misha needs to apply for the Schengen visa. If travelling to Ireland, she needs to get a second visa for this, since Ireland is not under the Schengen agreement.
Currently, due to restrictions between the majority of Middle Eastern countries and Israel, Misha cannot travel to Israel at all. So for the time being, Israel is inaccessible to us. Hopefully this will be resolved some time soon and we can travel there and tour the country together.
When travelling, you want to be as comfortable as possible. However, we often try to step out of our comfort zone. We feel that if you only do things you’re comfortable with, you will miss out on a lot of experiences that you would have enjoyed. We strongly believe that you do need to step out of that comfort zone every so often in order to get the real feeling of a country or culture.
In a word, yes. The Middle East is currently very much overlooked as a travel destination. When people do go there it is mostly to Jordan and Dubai. But there is so much more to discover. For example: Lebanon, Oman, and even Saudi Arabia. Although it is currently inaccessible for tourists, talks are ongoing to change this.
Unfortunately there has always been a negative image of the Middle East, and it has been projected poorly on the global stage. We like to try and present the Middle East from our perspective, as people who actually live here. This is a much more positive view.
Saudi Arabia has been in the news a lot over the past year due to the changes that have taken place here. Think about the reintroduction of cinemas and the decree stating that women can now get driving licences. It is a country that is still a mystery to a lot of people who have not been here. Maybe that’s what makes it so special to live here, knowing that we are some of the lucky few who get to see what the country actually has to offer.
We have never felt in any danger here. Thankfully. Like any country, there are places where you would not go as a foreigner. But this can be said about every country in the world.
The police is very present here, and we have never experienced any problems or anything leading us to think we should leave the country.
In fact, when you go to local markets or trade shops you will find that a lot of the locals are happy to see you and will try to engage with you. They want to find out where you’re from, how long you’ve been here, and how you find living in Saudi Arabia.
With news reports we see from some European countries at the moment we feel safer in Saudi Arabia than we would back in Europe. Of course, this also comes down to respecting the country and its people. Like any country we go to, we try to respect the local people, their country and their culture. If given the chance, we try to interact with them and experience things their way to know the true feeling of the country.
There is a lot of research to be done when coming here first, as there are a lot of cultural differences to get used to. From timing your shopping trips properly due to shops closing at prayer time, to learning how to stay extremely aware of your surroundings when driving.
Living in Saudi Arabia can offer you a great opportunity to develop yourself. By this, we mean you can develop yourself personally, by learning the language and interacting with the locals, and taking every opportunity to witness and experience the generosity of the Arab world. If you get taken to a restaurant by a local you will certainly not leave feeling empty! In fact you will be lucky if you can find space on the table to put anything down!
If we had to pick one thing that future expats should know, it’s to learn to accept the culture and the traditions of the country. You are the guest here and it’s only right to respect the country you are in. You will need to adapt and be accepting of everything that happens here.
We also created a guide for people who are planning on going to Saudi Arabia!
In a nutshell, yes. Most of the dealings you will have will be with people from the Philippines, India, or Pakistan, and of course a lot of Arabs. However most of the Arabs will be from Lebanon, Egypt, or other northern Arabic countries. The majority of these people will speak English.
You might find yourself dealing with someone who does not know a lot of English. In that case, you will find yourself using a lot of hand signals. In the Arabic world hand signals are used a lot as a form of expression so you will see this a lot anyways.
Of course it’s good to learn some Arabic, especially the greetings and some basic phrases. Not only will it show that you have made the effort to try and immerse yourself more but it will also come in useful if you are at a local market or somewhere that not a lot of foreigners go.
The Middle East is often portrayed as a dangerous place to be. People often discourage travelling to the Middle East. It’s often displayed as a region where you cannot enjoy yourself or where there are no rights for foreigners. These are not true. There are lots of things to do in the Middle East, from exploring well preserved ruins to sampling the culture of an extremely old civilisation. See our guide to Lebanon as an example.
A lot of people also have the wrong idea about the region. They believe that it is extremely restrictive, that women need to be fully covered, that you will get put in prison for the smallest things, and that capital punishment is a daily occurrence. All of these couldn’t be further from the truth.
Yes, you will see women that are covered up, but this is not a requirement. It is more a cultural upbringing. You will also see a lot of women walking around wearing t-shirts and jeans. Except in Saudi Arabia where the wearing of a long dress – called an abaya – is a requirement. But a lot of women here will not have their faces and hair covered.
Capital punishment is only carried out for extreme crimes, like murder. Not unlike the USA, but for some reason people seem to make a big deal of the fact it happens in some Middle Eastern countries but don’t bat an eyelid that it happens in the USA.
The Middle East is an area that is unique to travel to. You need to be respectful and conscious of its culture and traditions. But by being like this, you will find that it has a lot to offer as a travel destination. In our opinion, everyone should try to visit some of the countries here at least once. Go beyond the usual haunts like Dubai, and enter the less travelled areas such as Lebanon, Oman and Bahrain. You will realize that there is much to offer here, and your experiences will allow you to see the true beauty of the Middle East.
Thank you so much to Martin and Misha for taking the time to answer these questions. If you’re interested in their stories, you can follow them on their blog Breaking Barriers, on Facebook, on YouTube, on Pinterest, on Twitter and on Instagram.
Our next guest for Free Spirits Friday is none other than Derek from Wandering Earl. Wait, what? Shouldn’t it be Wandering Derek then? Well, according to the man himself, Wandering Derek just didn’t have a nice ring to it. So he went with his middle name for his travel blog.
The man behind Wandering Earl has visited over 100 countries, he’s been kidnapped, he’s acted in a Bollywood movie, he’s worked on cruise ships and he’s taught English in Thailand. Most impressive of all: ever since Christmas Day 1999, Earl has been travelling non-stop. That’s right.
I think it’s safe to say that this guy has a lot of expertise on living a travel lifestyle and working as a digital nomad. This is the story of Wandering Earl.
Back in 1999, after graduating from university, I decided to take a 3 month trip to Southeast Asia before starting my career as a sports agent. I took off on Christmas Day and flew to Bangkok. I then celebrated the Millennium in Cambodia. And that night, I decided that 3 months wasn’t going to be enough at all. I had to find a way to travel for a much longer period of time. Of course, I imagined that a ‘longer period of time’ might mean 1 or maybe 2 years if I was lucky. After all, I only had $1500 to my name at the time. However, here we are and that trip has still yet to end. Since 1999, I’ve been on the road non-stop, traveling to over 105 countries. I’ve been figuring it all out as I went along. Since 2009 I’ve been blogging and in 2012 I started my own tour company, Wandering Earl Tours. I manage both of these from my laptop wherever I happen to be traveling. So, travel has honestly become my life now that it’s been almost 20 years, so much more than what I had originally envisioned!
Two things made it impossible to go back – people and education. The simple fact that I was meeting so many new people that I otherwise would never have come across in my life, hearing their stories, learning from their experiences and creating incredibly strong bonds was probably enough to keep me going. But when I thought about the overall education I was receiving from every place I visited, every meal I ate, every village I passed through and every interaction I had, I absolutely could not imagine life without these two things. And that was it. Right there at Angkor Wat, I was celebrating the Millennium and pondering what I had already been through in such a short period of time. And I realized that I had to keep traveling as long as I could. I didn’t have a plan, I didn’t know anyone who was out there traveling the world. I didn’t know where this would all lead. But I didn’t care. I felt it deep inside that this was a decision I needed to make.
This was a little tricky at first as my money was dwindling quickly. I only had $1500 when I set out. And now that I planned to travel indefinitely, I obviously needed some source of income. It all came down to talking to as many people as I could, both locals and other travelers alike. I was trying to figure out some ideas that could earn me some money. Back then I couldn’t just go online and find endless ideas. It didn’t exist. So, at one point, I met another traveler who told me to go to Chiang Mai, Thailand and teach English. Eventually, that’s what I did. I posted hand-written signs around the Chiang Mai University campus, along with a friend of mine who joined me. The signs said ‘Native English Speakers willing to teach English’. We received about 100 calls within the first week. Before we knew it, we had daily classes lined up where we would sit in the park or in a cafe with a handful of students and teach them English. From there, I met another traveler who mentioned working on board cruise ships. About 1.5 years later, when the money was low again, I took his advice. I ended up getting a job as a Tour Manager on board a cruise ship. This allowed me to save some money, continue traveling and eventually, give me the opportunity to start working online.
Probably Syria. I visited Syria about a year before the current fighting broke out. It turned out to be one of the most rewarding travel experiences of my life. I had no idea what to expect at the time but I certainly didn’t expect such beautiful cities (especially Damascus and Aleppo), such stunning sites (Palmyra, Krak des Chevalier Crusader Castle, Maaloula Monastery), vibrant markets and wonderful food. To top it off, I have never been invited into more homes, to more local events or to more local celebrations than in Syria. Everyone was incredibly welcoming, the entire country felt so safe and nobody tried to rip me off or cause problems. Everywhere I went, I made local friends in a matter of minutes. My original plan was to stay for 2 weeks but I ended up spending 6 weeks inside the country in the end!
Nope. For me, the main reason I travel is for the interaction with all kinds of people. If I was just looking to check off countries from a list or see the main sights, I would have stopped traveling a long time ago. So, with a focus on interaction, the actual destinations don’t matter as much. Sure, I’d like to see as much of the world as I can. But still, seeing every country on the planet is not a goal.
These days I no longer stay in such dorm rooms. But yes, I feel it’s definitely worth it. It’s something that I feel all travelers should experience at some point. Forget about the health and quality of sleep aspects. It’s not going to have much of a long-term effect if you stay in $1 dorm rooms for a year. However, spending so little, sharing a room with strangers, learning to live very simply and not being comfortable all the time – those all provide lessons that will definitely have a long-term (and positive) effect on one’s life. My days of staying in such dorm rooms absolutely helped shape who I am. They taught me a great deal about interacting with people and surviving with much less than I ever thought I could survive with. Of course, you don’t need to sleep in such places for years on end. However, going beyond your comfort zone and trying it out for a while will definitely lead to great, long-lasting benefits.
First, yes. I do get somewhat burnt out from time to time. But I don’t have any kind of longing feeling to go back to the USA to live a more settled life. Also, since I really don’t have a home to go back to, that’s a bit difficult. My family and old friends are all scattered around the US, my girlfriend is from Romania and some of her family lives in Sweden and we have friends all over the world. So it’s difficult to pick a place to call home. However, when we do get burnt out, which definitely happens with all the moving around, we simply pick a place that we know or think we’ll enjoy and we stay put for a while. Maybe it’s a month like our recent stint in Lisbon. Maybe it’s 2 or 3 months if that’s what we need. It’s definitely important for us to rest and just be in one place whenever travel starts to overwhelm us or maybe we need to concentrate on work more than usual. Our set up allows us to do that. And once we’re ready to get back on the road, off we go. For us, this works perfectly.
In 2012, readers of my blog, Wandering Earl, started asking if they could travel with me. I would get emails such as “Hey Earl, I know you travel to India a lot and I’d love to join you the next time you go!”. So, it got me thinking. If so many people are interested in traveling with me, maybe I could organize a group trip so that everyone can join at once. That’s how it all started. I put together an India itinerary and announced it on my blog and social media. The trip sold out in less than 24 hours. A few months later I added a Mexico trip and then another India adventure and they sold out as well. Before I knew it, I was offering more and more trips every year, to more and more countries around the world.
When I started, all of the destinations were based on countries that I had been to many times and that I knew extremely well. This included India, Mexico, Romania, Thailand, Cambodia and Turkey. And for the most part, that’s still how I choose the countries for the tours today. However, I also listen to requests from my readers as they are often suggesting certain countries where they would love for me to organize a tour. If it happens to be a country I’m not too familiar with, I simply start getting familiar with it. In the end, whether it’s to a country I’ve been to 30 times or 2 times, it’s the laid-back, small group style of these trips that really appeals to those who join.
It’s all about freedom. The freedom to wake up each day and decide where I want to go or what I want to do or how I want to live. I personally love travel so this freedom enables me to be nomadic and travel as I wish, to interact with all kinds of people, to never stop learning, to partake in activities that otherwise would only remain a dream. This kind of control over our lives simply isn’t possible with a more ‘normal’ set up. Once you have a taste of such freedom, it’s very difficult to give up of course.
Thank you so much to Derek for taking the time to answer these questions and to give you all some insight into the world of a digital nomad. You can follow him on his blog Wandering Earl, on Facebook, on Instagram and on Twitter. You can also check out his tour company on Wandering Earl Tours.
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